Railroad-rail joint



(No Model.) I

4. NEUTA-SOHER RAILROAD RAIL JOINT.

Patented Jan.6, 1891.

WWI/WW UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

ALLISE NEUTASCI-IER, OF MENDOTA, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-RAIL JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,251, dated January6, 1891.

Application filed January 2, 1890.

To aZZ whom, it may concern;

Be it known that I, ALLISE NEUTASOHER, of Mendota, in the county of LaSalle, and in the State of Illinois, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Railroad-Rail Joints and Means for Uniting theSame; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description thereof.

My invention relates to railroad-rail joints and means for uniting thesame; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction, as willbe fully set forth hereinafter, and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view of my present invention, partlybroken away to better illustrate details of construction; and Fig. 2 isa side elevation thereof, with the end of one of the holding-bolts insection.

A A represent the adjacent ends of the flanges or treads of two ordinaryrailroad-rails, B the web of the rails, and O the base.

The only peeuliarityin the rails themselves consists in the fact that acorner of each adjacent rail-tread is cut off, as shown at a a, forreasons hereinafter set forth.

Through the web B of the rails near the adjacent ends of each two railsto be joined together I cut or bore transverse perforations b 11,preferably of greater length than the diameter of the bolt D to beinserted therein, as shown at the left in Fig. 1, though one of the saidperforations may, if desired, be of only sufficient size to admit thepassage therethrough of said bolt, as shown at the rightin said figure.I make similar perforations c c (of simply sufficient size for thereception of said bolts) in the fish-plates E E, which are to be appliedto the rail-joints in the usual manner, and which may be angle-plates,as shown, or simply straight plates, as preferred. The bolts D aresimply straight bolts with heads (1 on one end and pointed, as shown ate, at the other end, and provided with longitudinal slots f for theinsertion of wedgeshaped locking-plates F, provided with any desirednumber of series of holes 9 g g, the latter for the reception of theends h h of the double spring locking-pin G, which ends are bentdownward and preferably inward, as shown.

H H are split pins adapted to be dropped Serial No. 335,568. (No model.)

into the holes 9 g next the boltsD D to aid in holding thelocking-plates firmly in place.

The adjacent ends of the rail-treads A are cut or beveled off oppositelyto each other at their corners, as shown at a, each cut extendingobliquely backward and outward, and the object of cutting off thecorners of the adjacent ends of the rail-treads, as shown at a a, is toprevent car-wheels from leaving the track, as has sometimes happened, atrailjoints, when from any cause the edge of one rail end projected evenslightly beyond the edge of the adjacent rail end.

The object of making the perforations b in the rail-web of greaterlength than the diameter of the holding-bolts D is to permit of theexpansion and contraction of the rails under varying conditions oftemperature without disturbingthe describedlocking arrangement, thoughthis result is also obtained by the use of the spring locking-pin G,which can yield as required in either direction. By reason of having thelocking-plates wedge-shaped the same can be forced through the slotsfinthe bolts D to any required distance, adjusting themselves thereby toany width of fish-plate which happens to be used, and the object ofhaving the holes g g in irregular series, as shown, is to enable thepins H H to be placed snugly against the bolts D D, no matter to whatdistance the wedge-shaped lockingplates have been adjusted. These boltscan be made very economically from old disused railroad and other boltswhose screw-threads have become worn out by simply pointing and slottingthem, and thus what is at present chiefly an item of waste with railroadcompanies-namely, worn-out screw-boltswould thus become valuable atslight cost. While the bolts would hold the rail-joint as securelywithout their ends being pointed, it

is much easier to drive a pointed bolt through the holes in the rail-weband fish-plates than a blunt bolt, as the point enables the bolt to bereadily forced through without the need of as careful adjustment of allthe parts as would be necessary with a blunt-ended bolt.

While especially designed for use in connection with a railroad-railjoint, it is obvious that my bolts and locking-plates may be used withany articles or class of machinery now requiring jam-nuts or nut-locksto hold bolts securely in place.

My joint is not only as strong as would be one where nut-locks areemployed,but at the same time its flexibility is a great advantage, (inallowing for the expansion and contraction of the rails, as stated,) andany possible danger of the edge of one rail-tread end projectinglaterally beyond the edge of the adj acent rail-tread end by reason ofsuch flexibility is obviated by the described cutting away of thecorners of the adjacent treads.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and. desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of two adjacent railends having elongated perforationsthrough the webs of one thereof, with fish-plates provided withregistering, perforations, pointed and headed bolts passed through saidperforations ALLISE NEUTASCHER.

Witnesses:

R. C. MCINTIRE, J. A. LAMBERTON.

